Halloween Costumes-What Do You Do After the Holiday.

**McD** · 10-11-2010, 02:03 PM

A recent comment in another thread got me to thinking (which is always a bit scary!).

What do you do with your child(ren)'s Halloween costume after the holiday is over?

Wesley rewears his over and over. He's constantly dressing up and pretending and doing all sorts of crazy stuff in his costume. He has also taken to dressing Maggie up in portions of costumes also. Because he gets so much use out of it, I don't mind (as much) paying 20-30$ for a costume.

**AmyBoz** · 10-11-2010, 02:30 PM

My kids re-wear them all year. They are always putting on little plays for us and they always want to dress up for the plays, whether the costumes fit the characters or not.

**Imarachne** · 10-11-2010, 04:48 PM

My grandkids play dress-up all year with old costumes along with clothing from thrift shops like ballet dresses.

**Momto5RN** · 10-11-2010, 04:59 PM

when young they usually play with it for dress up- otherwise it goes in a costme bin until all the kids are out of that size then i give it away .

**TheresaRHPS** · 10-11-2010, 06:08 PM

Hehe, with my personal costumes, they get re-worn over and over again.

I generally start the base with something I already own. I have a plethora of "gothy" dresses from my high school/college goth days that depending on color and style, can be morphed into a devil, a witch, a vampire, etc. with minimal accessories. Now that I'm Civil War reenacting, I have a host of actual period attire and things that LOOK period correct, such as lacy blouses and long basic skirts.

I generally have several opportunities to dress up each year. I dress up for trick-or-treat, my boyfriend's Halloween party, and usually we can dress up one or more days at work.

Any accessories and extra get put into a special drawer, to wear next year, or whenever the opportunity arises...like a RHPS showing, my sister's homecoming week, etc.

**many houseapes** · 10-11-2010, 07:59 PM

I learned my lesson about putting away the costumes after Halloween.Lol. A few years ago, Sam Nathan went as Spiderman...he had been wearing the costume nearly every day before Halloween - I was so sick of Spidey. Anyway, I thought that by the time that Halloween was over with, I would wash the costume one last time & put it away for Zachary to use the next year. I thought that Sam hadn't seen where I had hid all of the costumes/Halloween stuff in the garage..lol....a few minutes later...I see Spiderman swinging on the swingset outside! What a little sneak

So after Halloween, the kids play around with their costumes for a few weeks more until they get tired of them -then they go into storage for the next houseape for the following year.

**danni** · 10-12-2010, 09:47 AM

We have a trunk full of their costumes. My kids and the kids I babysit love pulling it out and playing dress up on a regular basis.

**MomToTwoBoys** · 10-12-2010, 09:52 AM

I save mine. I also save the kids but as far as passing them down to someone else, it doesn't happen. I make mine from scratch, so I wear certain components over and over again.

**Rhayne** · 10-15-2010, 10:05 AM

I save mine. I have a jester costume from high school (about 1996) That I've probly used for 5-6 halloweens. Oh and my mom has wigs, accessories, capes, masks, brooms, fake knives and a whole bunch of other stuff from many many years ago.

**happymomof4** · 10-15-2010, 01:39 PM

I have a tub of halloween customes. I bring it down out of the attic every year. The kid go thru it and make customes with it. I did go thru it a few years ago and gave all the little sizes to my granddaughters and neice. Even my college age daughter comes home and gets things out of it for parties.

**valerian** · 10-16-2010, 10:46 AM

Well, I was one of those Moms that saved everything made or used by my three kids, but a few years ago I decided that doing that was ridiculous so I've sold a lot of their stuff. We kept their Halloween costumes in a big box and hung in the back of closets. The youngest will use them for dress-up for a while. The ones he's out-grown I sell on ebay and the ones that are way too big for him (hand-me-downs) I went ahead and sold.

**zakity** · 10-16-2010, 04:59 PM

My guys used them as dress-up play. There aren't a lot of dress up clothes for boys.

Actually, we need to go through the box and pick out what is usuable and donate the rest. I am sure there is a ton that doesn't fit them anymore.

**frugalwarrior2** · 10-16-2010, 10:51 PM

When the kids were little we had a dress up tub. As soon as they were small we resaled them.

**BlissMommy** · 10-16-2010, 11:21 PM

If they are more expensive than I hold onto them and resell them the next year. I keep my older son's costume for the younger one and let the younger one use his for dress up.

**TheresaRHPS** · 10-29-2010, 01:22 PM

My little boy's first trick-or-treat was last night, and I was kind of torn, lol. For a brief moment, I considered how much I could sell his little worn-for-30-minute pirate costume for.

Even though its not the most frugal alternative, I think I'm going to hang on to it. Who knows...maybe one day I'll have another little one.